Oct. 24, 1861: Washington, D.C. - After conferring for weeks with advisors and his Cabinet, Pres. Lincoln decides to relieve Gen. Fremont of his command in Missouri–a risky political move, since Fremont is revered the nation over as the great Pathfinder, and by Republicans as being strongly abolitionist and the first ever Republican candidate for President in the 1856 elections. Lincoln gives orders to Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, who is dispatched to St. Louis that relieve Fremont and put Gen. David Hunter in command of the Department of the West. Later in the day, the President attends the funeral of his dear friend Col. Edward Baker.

A Southern refugee, Judith White Maguire, writes in her journal:

"Thursday, 24th.—An account reached us to-day of a severe fight last Monday (21st), at Leesburg—a Manassas fight in a small way. The Federals, under General Stone, came in large force to the river; they crossed in the morning 8,000 or 10,000 strong, under command of Colonel Baker, late Senator from Oregon. They came with all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war, and rushed on as if to certain victory over our small force. But when the sun set, where were they?’ They were flying back to Maryland, that her hills might hide and her rocks shelter them. They crowded into their boats, on their rafts; multitudes plunged into the water and swam over; any thing, any way, that would bear them from ‘old Virginia’s shore.’ Our men were in hot pursuit, firing upon them incessantly, until the blue waters of the Potomac ran red with blood. It was a ‘famous victory,’ as old Caspar would say, and I am thankful enough for it; for if they come to kill us, we must kill or drive them back. But it is dreadful to think of the dead and the dying, the widows and the orphans."